The Chauffeur

Taken at the Second Honeymoon Location 🙂

It was June 7, 1998 and my just married honey, John Mark, and I were headed to our beautiful honeymoon location in the Poconos. We could not wait to see the deal that we found online. Ok, that is a dead give-away that this might get interesting. We were both underage to rent a car, but we needed to get to the “resort.” We had to hire a driver to take us there. We load up our suitcases and our giddy selves and head off to our honeymoon paradise. The driver was quiet for the most part and as we got closer to our destination, we began inquiring about our honeymoon spot. The chauffeur said that yes, he had heard of this place and it had a nice golf course. Wow, that really wasn’t one of the amenities that either of us were looking for, but great. We arrived an hour or so later and the chauffeur unloaded our bags and asked us if we wanted him to stay until we got adjusted. We hurried him off, anxious to get to “the room” that held our future honeymoon memories.

I noticed a bit of construction around the tennis courts with caution tape. The entryway of “the resort” had some interesting mirrors on the ceiling and it was dark. I am no detective like “Monk,” but I am starting to put a few pieces of “the deal” that we got online together. Once we got into the room I realized we had been snookered. Our three tier palace was full of shag carpet not just on the floor, but on the walls as well. You walk up to the second tier (two steps to the left) and there lies the Jacuzzi tub. Two more steps you walk into the spacious bedroom with some kind of bird cage like thing hanging from the ceiling that we were supposed to sit in together. The room was full of mirrors and it looked like a scene from a bad 70’s romance novel. I am ashamed to say this, but I flopped on the bed and began sobbing uncontrollably, asking for my momma! I know! Can you believe it? It’s true. My sweet beloved newlywed husband always has a positive spin on life and reassured me that this was going to be great. He told me that we could go have dinner and he was sure it was going to get better if we just spent some time looking around. My magical honeymoon was becoming a real nightmare.

Change and disappointments are inevitable. My family and I are experiencing that right now. My husband is “stepping down” as pastor from an incredible church full of very loving people because he feels led in a different career path which could cause us to move. While I support him, I have wrestled with God and bargained with God saying things like Abraham said in Sodom and Gomorrah. “If I find ten good reasons to stay here, can we stay and you not destroy our lives here? Ok, maybe just one, can we please stay?” I have to remind myself that He is the one who brought us to this good place and He can take us to another good place. I think the key to this is listening and being obedient to the desire of God’s heart.

An often stated verse and the one outside of my journal states,

For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Once, my newlywed husband and I decided that this resort just might not work, we started on plan b. We worked on getting our money back on this “resort” and started calling other resorts close by. This darling manager (envision the manager of the Willshire Beverly Hotel in the movie Pretty Woman) came to our rescue. He drove over an hour away to get us to his resort. We barely had enough money to get the cheapest room that they had available. This precious chauffeur and manager upgraded us two notches to a better room that included a fireplace, pool, sauna, hot tub, complimentary champagne, and t-shirts all in our room. Every night we had a dinner that you thought you had died and gone to heaven when you ate it. It was the most fabulous honeymoon you could imagine.

The next time you are wrestling with a change of any kind; just know that you have a chauffeur that wants to take you through the change. He is the kind of God who had a plan for your life before the earth was even formed and a place of beauty where He wants you to rest both here on earth and in Heaven. You can rely on Him to give you nothing but the best, but you have to call on Him and ask for help. You are not only going to make it through the disappointment and change; you are going to arrive there right on time and in style with the best driver around.

Much Love in Christ-Desiree’ (former pastor’s wife and growing expert in change)